Diahann Carroll
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| Diahann Carroll | |||||||||||
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 photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1955 |
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| Born | Carol Diahann Johnson July 17, 1935 The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1954-2007 | ||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Vic Damone (1987-1996) Robert DeLeon (1975-1977) Fredde Glusman (1973-1973) Monte Kay (1956-1963) |
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Diahann Carroll (born July 17, 1935) is an American Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe- and Tony Award-winning actress and singer. Born Carol Diahann Johnson in The Bronx, New York, she attended Manhattan's School of Performing Arts, along with schoolmate Billy Dee Williams. Her family moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City when she was one and a half years old.
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[edit] Career
Carrol's first film assignment was a supporting role in Carmen Jones in 1954, playing a friend of the sultry Carmen played by Dorothy Dandridge. She then starred in the Broadway musical House of Flowers. In 1959, she played Clara in the film version of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess along with such distinguished actors as Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., and Pearl Bailey. All singing voices were dubbed in the film, with the exception of Pearl Bailey, with the opera singer Loulie Jean Norman standing in for Carroll. In 1962 she won the Tony Award for best actress (a first for a black woman) for the role of Barbara Woodruff in the Samuel A. Taylor and Richard Rodgers musical No Strings. In 1974 she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Claudine.
Carroll is probably best known for her title role in Julia in 1968. This landmark accomplishment established Carroll as the first African American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role in 1969, and won the Golden Globe Award for “Best Actress In A Television Series” in 1968.[1] Her first Emmy nomination came in 1963 for her work in Naked City. Some of Carroll's other earlier television work includes appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, Judy Garland and Ed Sullivan, and The Hollywood Palace variety show.
In the 1980s, Diahann was signed on to join the star ensemble of the glitzy nighttime soap opera Dynasty and its spin-off The Colbys, as the jet setter, Dominique Deveraux, the half-sister of Blake Carrington played by actor John Forsythe. Carroll mused at the lavish wardrobing on these shows, comparing it to the US$50 budget for her nurse's uniform on Julia.[citation needed] It was for her recurring role as Marion Gilbert in A Different World that she received her third Emmy nomination 1989. In 2006, Carroll was cast in the television comedy/drama Grey's Anatomy as Jane Burke, the demanding mother of Dr. Preston Burke.
Carroll starred in the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical version of the classic film Sunset Boulevard . She played the lead role, crazed silent movie star Norma Desmond, with the role of Joe Gillis played by Rex Smith.
[edit] Personal life
Carroll has had four marriages, one of which produced a daughter, Suzanne Kay Bamford ( born September 9, 1960 ), who became a freelance media journalist. In 1973, Diahann surprised the press by marrying Las Vegas boutique owner Fred Glusman. She and British television host and producer David Frost had been dating at the time, and were engaged. After several weeks, she filed for divorce from Glusman, charging physical abuse. In 1975, Diahann married Robert DeLeon, a managing editor of Jet magazine. She was widowed wo years later when DeLeon was killed in an autombile accident.[2][3] Diahann's fourth and last marriage was to singer Vic Damone in 1987. The union, which Carroll admitted was turbulent, underwent a legal separation in 1991, then reconciled before eventually divorcing in 1996.[4][5]
Carroll is a breast cancer activist and survivor, who in order to draw attention to the cause, invited a camera crew into her treatment room for a national broadcast special.
[edit] Theatre and stage
- Sunset Boulevard - Norma Desmond
- Agnes of God (1982) - Doctor Martha Livingstone
- No Strings (1962) - Barbara Woodruff
- House of Flowers (1954) - Ottilie
[edit] Television
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[edit] Filmography
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[edit] Discography
[edit] Awards/Nominations
- 1962 Best Actress: No Strings (Winner)
- 1975 Best Actress: Claudine (Nominated)
- 1963 Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Naked City (Nominated)
- 1969 Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series: Julia (Nominated)
- 1999 Outstanding Performance in a Children's Special/Series: The Sweetest Gift (Nominated)
- 1989 Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: A Different World (Nominated)
- 1968 Best TV Star- Female: Julia (Winner)
- 1970 Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Television Series: Julia (Nominated)
- 1975 Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Motion Picture: Claudine (Nominated)
- 2000 Outstanding Actress in a Mini-Series/Television Movie: Having a Say: The Delany Sisters' 1st 100 Years (Nominated)
- 2005 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Television Drama Series: Soul Food (Nominated)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Diahann Carroll official website
- Diahann Carroll at the Internet Broadway Database
- Diahann Carroll at the Internet Movie Database
- Diahann Carroll at the TCM Movie Database
- Diahann Carroll at TV.com
- Diahann Carroll at Yahoo! Movies
- Archive of American Television Interview with Diahann Carroll March 2, 1994 on Google Video
- The HistoryMakers Biography
- Diahann Carroll at Discogs
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Elizabeth Seal Irma La Douce |
Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical 1962 No Strings |
Succeeded by Vivien Leigh Tovarich |
